Public housing smoking ban sparks mixed reviews in NYC

Karen Matthews, Associated Press

Updated 3:32 pm, Thursday, December 1, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — Elba Acosta was distressed to learn that her morning habit of coffee and a smoke inside her New York City Housing Authority apartment will be banned under new federal rules prohibiting smoking in public housing.

"I have my black coffee and a cigarette at home," Acosta, 67, said Thursday outside the Chelsea-Elliot Houses. "I mean, that's my freedom. You do whatever you want to do because it's your body. The government has no business in your personal choice."

Acosta was reacting to U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro's announcement Wednesday that smoking will be banned in public housing developments nationwide. Housing agencies will have 18 months to implement the ban, which will apply to apartments and indoor common areas as well as outside areas within 25 feet of housing and administrative offices.

Housing authorities in several cities including Boston, Seattle, Syracuse and San Antonio already ban smoking in apartments, but the New York City Housing Authority, the nation's largest with more than 400,000 residents, currently prohibits smoking only in common areas, such as lobbies and hallways.

Reactions to the impending ban were mixed at the Chelsea-Elliot Houses and the Fulton Houses, both in Manhattan's Chelsea section.

Smoke-free living can't come soon enough for Aurea Martinez, 83, who neither smokes nor allows anyone to smoke in her apartment. "I'm against the people that smoke," Martinez said. "It's not good for my health."

Neaves said that under San Antonio's initial enforcement plan, tenants would get a lease-termination notice only after violating the smoking ban five times. That's since been amended to a three-strikes-you're-out policy. No one has yet been evicted for smoking, Neaves said.

Neaves said enforcement efforts have been aided by tenants who can smell the smoke coming from neighboring apartments.

"We do have people telling on each other and that's one of the ways that people do find out," Neaves said. "If it bothers them and they want to protect their health then they're going to speak up."